Belgian Waffle

Shannon, my sorority sister and roommate from last year, came to visit over her spring break, and we flew over to Brussels for the weekend! After getting lost in Dublin and waking up at 3am for our flight, we finally made it. Our very first experience in Brussels was indulging in a Belgian waffle from a street vendor. Adorned with chocolate and strawberries, I could not have been more excited at 10am. Yet the combination of a styrofoam plate and plastic fork did not work well for me, and as my waffle flew in the air, I clutched it to my chest. Thus I walked around town for the rest of the day with chocolate all over my coat, but I still salvaged the delicious breakfast.

My favorite parts of our visits were enjoying aspects of the culture: Sitting outside at a cafe to enjoy a blonde beer (Duvel was our favorite), eating chocolate strawberries while walking, and having restaurant maitre d's try to persuade us to eat at their establishment. At the chocolate museum we watched the "chocolate master" as he mixed and molded chocolate to make Belgian treats. As we walked throughout the city, we visited three cathedrals and admired their grandeur and architectural differences. The buildings of La Grande Place, the center of the old city, reminded me of Paris. I also had the chance to practice some of my French, mostly with some young men from the Ivory Coast and Gabon that we met at a popular bar called Delirium. However, with so many wonderful smells of chocolate and pastries, along with having to pay 2.50 euro for water at a restaurant, I decided that I would go bankrupt in this city.